Playlist, Week of 2026-07-12

I have been immersing myself in the mammoth new release of Cecil Taylor big band shows... 14 (!) hour-ish long sets... I can only handle one set an evening... amazing stuff, with Taylor melding with the group, leading it by not leading... And of course listening to this much Cecil engenders listening to more Cecil... Meanwhile the "Dark Star" listening is winding down... 

Playlist 2026-07-13:

*Anthony Braxton: Composition 98 (Studio) "Part 1"
*Anthony Braxton/ Italian Instabile Orchestra: Creative Orchestra (Bolzano) 2007
*Rosemary Clooney and Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Blue Rose
*John Coltrane: Offering: Live at Temple University (disc 1)
*Miles Davis: 1966-05-21 Portland OR (CDR) (disc 1)
*Dietrichs: Live Bahdu
*Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7, etc. (BBC Philharmonic/Sinaisky)
*Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Boult)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 13 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1964
*Fire! Orchestra: 2018-03-03 Geneva (CDR)
*Flight of the Conchords: The Distant Future
*Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito: Out Beyond Orbit
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-24 Normal IL (CDR) (disc 3)
*Grateful Dead: 1992-03-20 Hamilton, ON (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-08 Richfield OH (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-18 Charlotte NC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-22  Pittsburgh (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 7: Pages 161-193
*Matt Mitchell/Kate Gentile: Snark Horse (disc 2) "Thumbly"
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 12)
*Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil
*Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa "Ornette Coleman´s Harmolodic Sonic Hierographic Forms: A Resonance Change In The Millennium"
*Sun Ra: East Two +7
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-31 Detroit (CDR) (disc 2)
*Cecil Taylor Quartet with Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (disc 1) "Four"
*Cecil Taylor/Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1984-10-30 Paris (CDR) (track 1)
*Cecil Taylor & Günter Sommer: Riobec "Riobec 1"
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (discs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 2)
*David Tudor et al.: Music from the Tudorfest (disc 1)
*UYA: 1995-02-09 Slip Tight II (wav)
*UYA: 1995-02-12 Have You Signed Your Check? (wav)
*Various artists: Wavelength Infinity: A Sun Ra Tribute (disc 1) 

Reading List, Week of 2026-07-12

Reading List 2026-07-13:

*Brainard, Joe. The Complete C Comics (started)
*Ellroy, James. Red Sheet (started)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's Forever People (reread/started)
*Styan, J. L. The Shakespeare Revolution: Criticism and Performance in the Twentieth Century (started)
*Birkerts, Sven. An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th-Century Literature (finished)
*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (finished)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's New Gods (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Bat Girl (based on a dream)

 I entered the cave.

"Did you bring me what I asked for?"

"Here." I handed her the bag.

"Where are the sanitary pads."

"They were out." I lied. I didn't ask for them. I was too embarrassed.

..."You could buy them yourself, you know." 

"I can't. I'm Bat Girl."

It was true. 

Review of Sun Ra: "East Two + 5" (or "+ 7")

 

While it's become a reviewing cliché to comment on how amazing it is to have yet more hitherto unreleased Sun Ra musical treasures unearthed for our grateful ears, it is my great pleasure here to repeat that cliché. East Two + 5 (the vinyl version) or East Two + 7 (the CD/digital version), just released on Cosmic Myth, is just such a treasure. In fact, it's one of the strongest Ra releases of the last few years. 

I will never complain about the continued onslaught of live Ra recordings (like the expanded Somewhere Over the Rainbow on Strut), but I am especially glad that this release primarily features previously unheard studio recordings. East Two focuses on the years 1972 and 1973 (two CD-only tracks are from the mid-'80s). The album's centerpiece is the title track, "East Two," a 15-minute extravaganza recorded at the same 1972 sessions as the Blue Thumb Space Is the Place and the Saturn Discipline 27-II. It's long been rumored that there was much more material from these Streeterville Studio sessions; this piece is the first proof of that, and it's a stunner. Producer Irwin Chusid's liner notes are, as always, detailed and informative, and he tells us that Pat Patrick plays electric bass here. Patrick supplies languid pacing for this slow, almost-but-not-quite processional groove voiced by the horns, accompanied by typical percussive clattering underneath. Ra's ghostly keyboards dip into his quintessential early-'70s sound, adding the swooping glissando effect he used prominently on the Streeterville "Space Is the Place." The mood shares an affinity with "Pan Afro" from Discipline 27-II, but overall the vibe here is more brooding, almost oppressive. The synthesizer lays down the underpinning for an ecstatic Kwame Hadi trumpet solo, followed by a brilliant high-energy, high-register solo from John Gilmore, who is on fire from the onset, matched by Ra's ever more aggressive keyboard comping. Eventually, the melody returns. For all that activity, including a mellow organ solo, the keyboards are relatively subdued. This is a beautiful, well-constructed composition that's easily worth the price of admission.

Besides "East Two," there are two other new Ra compositions that are unique to this collection. "In Tomorrow's Realm," a studio track recorded at Variety Studios in 1973, is a gorgeous, meandering mood piece, floating in mental space. Thanks to the presence of Ronnie Boykins on bass, this piece would have fit perfectly on Astro Black. Too bad it's Boykins' only appearance here. "East Five" is an intriguing studio recording of unknown provenance with really lovely acoustic piano throughout. An alto sax duet is taken over by an exhilarating solo from Gilmore, with Ra accompanying on piano. As the piece develops, with the horns coming in, it brings to mind some of the out group playing on Heliocentric Worlds. This is another fantastic track. 

The only other piece here from Streeterville is an alternate take of "Rocket #9" with a slightly different arrangement that doesn't add much to the superior version released on Blue Thumb.  The other Ra standards, "Lights on a Satellite" from the '70s and "Fate in a Pleasant Mood" (CD only) from a live show in 1984, are nice but don't really depart from previously-heard versions. "Fate" follows closely the arrangement used in the 1983 show on the Leo CD Love in Outer Space: Live in Utrecht. 

Chusid tells us that the version of "Yesterdays," from an unknown concert ca. 1972, is the earliest-known concert appearance of this 1933 jazz standard obviously loved by Ra. It starts off with an engaging, seemingly unrelated solo keyboard intro, and the piece as a whole is wonderful--I've never heard him play it this way before. 

Finally, the second CD-only track is "The Place of Five Points." This is a 1985 live version of a composition originally appearing on the studio LP Omniverse.  It is one of only three live versions of this composition (Chusid claims this is the only one, but Earthly Recordings lists two more). With Ra's well-tuned solo acoustic piano front and center (tuned pianos were much more of a rarity for live Ra than you'd expect for the '80s), the mood of this live version readily evokes the feel of both Omniverse and its piano trio companion God Is More than Love Can Ever Be.

So, East Two is a hodge-podge of material, and even though the pieces come from several sources, the album flows just fine. And while it's nice to hear new versions of familiar songs, the aspect of this release that makes it a superlative collection is the inclusion of the three new compositions.

Playlist, Week of 2026-07-05

 

Listening to Fire! Orchestra's cover of "At Last I Am Free" led me back not to the original Chic song but to Robert Wyatt's perfect version... Finished up the Art Ensemble of Chicago 1978 Public Theatre run... what an amazing improvisational band!... Lotta great music out there...

Playlist 2026-07-06:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-11 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Daniel Carter: Makeshift Spirituals, Vol. 1
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Eras
*John Coltrane: Live in Japan (disc 3) "Leo"
*Dark Carpet: Factory Side
*Miles Davis: Filles de Kilimanjaro
*Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson
*Duke Ellington: The Reprise Studio Recordings (disc 3)
*Fire! Orchestra: Arrival
*Funkadelic: Maggot Brain
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-24 Normal IL (CDR) (disc 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1991-10-31 Oakland (CDR) "Dark Star," "Space > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-03-09 Landover MD (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Jefferson Pilot: The Optimist Field
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 6: Pages 131-160
*Leroy Jenkins: Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival Of America
*Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
*National Health: Missing Pieces
*New Ting: 2019-09-30 "Emulsify My Desires" (wav)
*Pauline Oliveros: Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970 (disc 4)
*Playfield: Playfield, Vol. 2
*John Philip Sousa: Stars & Stripes Forever and Other Famous Marches (Philip Jones Ensemble)
*Sun Ra: East Two +7
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-31 Detroit (CDR) (disc 1)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (discs 1, 2)
*UYA: 1995-02-09 Slip Tight I (wav)
*Various artists: New Music for Electronic & Recorded Media: Women in Electronic Music 1977
*Various artists: The Stax Soul Sisters
*Brian Wilson: Smile
*Robert Wyatt: Nothing Can Stop Us 

Reading List, Week of 2026-07-05

Reading List 2026-07-06:

*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's New Gods (reread/started)
*Birkerts, Sven. An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th-Century Literature (in progress)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-06-28

XTC's Live Boots: energy over fidelity... Myra Melford's For the Love of Fire and Water still holds up as one of the strongest jazz releases of the last few years... Always great to dip back into early Ellington... talk about holding up... The jam session of Jimi Hendrix with Robert Wyatt on drums is disappointing, as only Hendrix jam sessions can be... The Fire! Orchestra's recordings are uniformly transcendent and inspiring, not least because of the vocals of Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg... The Art Ensemble of Chicago is truly one of the greatest improvisational groups... their 1978 Public Theatre run is outstanding... 

Playlist 2026-06-29:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-10 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-11 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ayumi Ishito: Ayumi Ishito and the Spacemen, Vol. 1
*Beach Boys: We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (selections)
*John Coltrane: First Meditations (For Quartet)
*Cream: Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 3)
*Kris Davis/Lutosławski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 5) "Honky Tonk"
*Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985 (disc 4)
*Duke Ellington: The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973) (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band, 1940-1942 (disc 2)
*Fire! Orchestra: Enter
*Fire! Orchestra: Ritual
*Funkadelic: Hardcore Jollies
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-24 Normal IL (CDR) (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: 1991-09-24 Boston (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-09-26 Boston (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Jimi Hendrix w/Robert Wyatt: 1968-10 Hollywood (CDR)
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 5: Pages 101-130
*Ingrid Laubrock: Monochromes
*Lazro/Léandre/Lovens: For Baritone Sax, Double Bass & Drumset
*Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane
*Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet: For the Love of Fire and Water
*Mendoza Hoff Revels: Echolocation
*Merzbow/Balázs Pándi/Mats Gustafsson/Thurston Moore: Cuts Up Cuts Out
*Harry Miller: BBC Sessions, 1976-1977 (CDR)
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 11)
*Naked City: Heretic: Jeux des Dames Cruelles
*New Ting: 2026-05-11 "Battering Wham" (wav)
*Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes
*Pauline Oliveros: Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970 (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Playfield: Stepping Out, Vol. 1
*Sonny Rollins: East Broadway Run Down (side 2)
*Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages
*Sparks: MAD! (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: MADDER! (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2 "Cosmic Chaos"
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-30 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Cecil Taylor: 3 Phasis (side 2)
*Test: Ecstatic Peace
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc  1)
*Weather Report: Black Market (side 1)
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (sides 3, 4)

Reading List, Week of 2026-06-28

Reading List 2026-06-29:

*Birkerts, Sven. An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th-Century Literature (started)
*McKinney, Devin. Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Sven Birkerts on Our Relation to Time

 ...these feelings come to all of us who are lucky enough to live so long. They accompany the ultimately unavoidable realization that our basic relation to time—which is to say to possibility, to memory—has changed. The former diminishes as the latter grows, and there is nothing to be done. At a certain point in adulthood the weights seem equally distributed, the balance is at rest. And then, a moment later, it begins to tip, imperceptibly at first, then more obviously. (Sven Birkerts, " 'Live All You Can,' " in Reading Life: Books for the Ages, 2007, Graywolf Press, p. 156)

Playlist, Week of 2026-06-21

 [Ahmed] continues to kick my butt and engage my brain... The newest Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio strikes me as more of the same, but the same is so, so good... Love the strings on the one side of the Andrew Hill two-record set One for One... I wish he had explored those textures more... I have tbr (to be read) piles, but I also have tlt (to listen to) piles, and mine are constantly growing faster than time allows to work through them... 

Playlist 2026-06-22:

*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-10 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Beatles: Please Please Me (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Help! (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: The Beatles (2009 mono remaster)
*Boris: Heavy Rocks
*Anthony Braxton Quartet: 1976-10-28 Graz, Austria (CDR) "Four Winds"
*Tina Brooks: True Blue
*Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery/Eric Helm: 2026-06-13 Richmond VA (CDR)
*Byrds: The Essential Byrds (disc 1)
*John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (disc 3) "Chasin' the Trane"
*John Coltrane: Coltrane (side 1)
*Cream: Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 1)
*Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Entropic Hop: Live at Downtown Music Gallery
*Fire! Orchestra: Exit!
*Grateful Dead: Hundred Year Hall (1972-04-26 Frankfurt) (disc 2) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-06-22 Chicago (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-08-16 Mountain View CA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-09-10 NYC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (disc 2)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 2)
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 4: Pages 76-100
*Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight
*Ingrid Laubrock: Contemporary Chaos Practices
*Charles Mingus: Fables of Faubus: Slugs' Vol. 2
*National Health: Missing Pieces
*New Ting: 2026-06-08 "Carry This" (wav)
*Ivo Perelman: The Art of the Improv Trio, Vol. 6
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (side 3)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live at the Red Garter (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: East Two + 7
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-30 Detroit (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Craig Taborn: Light Made Lighter
*Umlaut Big Band: Mary's Ideas (disc 2)
*UYA: 1995-02-01 Wet Smoke (wav)
*UYA: Space Chunk (CDR compilation)
*Various artists: A Bolus of Pop Chyme/7-Inchers of Pleasure (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Alex Ward Item 10: Volition (Live At Cafe Oto) "Entreaty"
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (side 3)
*John Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio: Alea Iacta Est

Reading List, Week of 2026-06-21

Reading List 2026-06-22:

*Drnaso, Nick. Acting Class (finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*McKinney, Devin. Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History (reread/in progress
 

This Is Why I Keep Going Back

 ...a novel for me is a pretext, a way of starting up and sustaining a complicated and many-layered inner exchange, a to-and-fro which I long ago discovered that I need in order to locate myself in the world. Reading is a process that keeps the inner realm open, susceptible. Involvement in a book sets things going at a depth. (Sven Birkerts, "The Possibility of the Search," in Reading Life: Books for the Ages, 2007, Graywolf Press, p. 130)

 

Playlist, Week of 2026-06-14

 

The new Cecil Taylor release Fragments is excellent... some of the best sounding performances I've heard from this particular Unit... lots of critics quibble, but I quite like the contributions of Sam Rivers... I'm still getting blown away by [Ahmed]... loving their takes on Monk... 

Playlist 2026-06-15:

*[Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (disc 1)
*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 1)
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 1) "Quartet No. 1"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-09 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*At the Drive-In: Vaya
*Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians, Vol. 2
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (2009 mono remaster)
*Ornette Coleman Double Quartet: Free Jazz (side 1)
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (UK) (sides 1, 2)
*Elvis Costello: Taking Liberties (sides 1, 2)
*Egg: The Metronomical Society
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Jazz of the World War 2nd, Vol. 2: 1944/1945 (side 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: …And His Mother Called Him Bill
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-31 Oakland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-04-01 Greensboro NC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-06-14 Washington DC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Alexander Hawkins/Sofia Jernberg: Musho
*Joe Henderson: Multiple (side 1)
*Henry Now: Then Again (side 2)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 3)
*Hyper Gal: Our Hyper
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 3: Pages 51-75
*James Brandon Lewis: An Unruly Manifesto
*Charles Mingus: Dizzy Atmosphere: Slugs' Vol. 1
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #1 for Eleven"
*Naked City: Grand Guignol
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-13 Musicircus, UR, Richmond (wav)
*New Ting: 2026-06-08 Carry It All (wav)
*Sonny Rollins Quartet with Don Cherry: Complete Live at the Village Gate 1962 (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: When Sun Comes Out (side 1)
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Sun Ra: Kingdom of Discipline (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (discs 1, 2)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 3)
*UYA: 1995-01-25 I Have to Build My Own Martians (wav)
*Various artists: Variations #2: The Globe (Jon Leidecker) (CDR)
*Marta Warelis: Still Life with Lemons 

Reading List, Week of 2026-06-14

Reading List 2026-06-15:

*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (started)
*Drnaso, Nick. Acting Class (started)
*McKinney, Devin. Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History (reread/started)
*Burns, Charles. Hard-Boiled Defective Stories (started/finished)
*Birkerts, Sven. Reading Life: Books for the Ages (finished)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

ROVA's Larry Ochs on the Power of Music

 

The best compliment I ever had after a concert was a guy who came up to me--he said he was a conceptual artist, a sculptor--and he said, "I've been having a real problem with one of my pieces and I listened to this piece of yours and I had a tremendous breakthrough." That is what this music is all about. It's about waking people up or helping them to solve problems for themselves in the context of their own lives. It's not about being a messiah or being the greatest music of all time. I think that's shit! Affect people in a way that helps them be more creative with their own lives.  --Larry Ochs, quoted in Michael Goldberg, "ROVA Saxophone Quartet Wants You to Wake Up," Downbeat, 1981-01, p. 25

Playlist, Week of 2026-06-07

 

Familiar with Pat Thomas mostly through his work with Tony Oxley, and later with [Ahmed]... I love his acoustic piano playing, but I really love the electronics on Strata, Act... obviously I need to do more exploration... Sonny Sharrock's contribution to Jack Johnson is exemplary... too bad he didn't play with Miles more... 

Playlist 2026-06-08:

*Jon Anderson: Olias of Sunhillow
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 2) "Trio (Oh Susanna)"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-08 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Beatles: Mono Masters (disc 1)
*Beatles: Rubber Soul (2009 mono remaster)
*Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East West
*John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition I/take 2)
*John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition II/take 1)
*Miles Davis: The Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection, Vol. 2 (LP 3: sides 1, 2)
*Miles Davis: The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (disc 5) "Yesternow"
*Dietrichs: Live Bahdu
*Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: The Ellington Era, Vol. 1: 1927-1940 (side 3)
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington (Volumes 5/6) - 1940 (side 3)
*Funkadelic: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
*Funkadelic: Let's Take It to the Stage
*Grateful Dead: 1972-04-11 Newcastle (CDR) "Truckin'"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-11-01 London (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-12 Denver (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-14 Denver (CDR) "Space > Dark Star"
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 1: Pages 1-24
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 2: Pages 25-50
*Magda Mayas' Filamental: Murmur
*Charles Mingus Quintet: 1975-05-07 Boston (CDR)
*Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind
*New Ting: 2026-06-01 "Slinky Wink" (wav)
*Larry Ochs/Nels Cline/Gerald Cleaver: What Is To Be Done
*Jean-Luc Ponty: Enigmatic Ocean
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (disc 1)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (discs 1, 2)
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (sides 1, 2)

Reading List, Week of 2026-06-07

Reading List 2026-06-08:

*Birkerts, Sven. Reading Life: Books for the Ages (started)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things (reread/started)
*Homer. The Odyssey (transl. Emily Wilson) (reread/finished)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Wise Man's Fear (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Sven Birkerts on Rereading

Possibly I believed, as most survivors of higher education believe, that a book is somehow used up, finished, by our reading; that it is a device, spring-loaded with themes and characters, which discharges itself fully as we finish, and that anything else—our memories and references—constitutes a kind of dreamlike residue. I no longer think so. Reading infiltrates. Books stay alive, not just in the active imagination, but in the very structures of our awareness. (Sven Birkerts, "The Reading Life," in Reading Life: Books for the Ages, 2007, Graywolf Press, p. 21)

Magic Jukebox Time: Walkin'

Here's another Magic Jukebox shuffled playlist... the weather's fine for walking! And I don't mind when the MJ plays three Ellington songs in a row...

1. William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
2. Shirelles - Ooh Poo Pah Doo
3. Billie Holiday - I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (and Throw Away the Key)
4. Bad Brains - F.V.K. 
5. Muffins - Queenside [remix]
6. Jelly Roll Morton - My Little Dixie Home
7. Fletcher Henderson - T.N.T.
8. Dan the Automator - Punjabis, Pimps, and Players
9. Elvis Presley - The Thrill of Your Love
10. Ornette Coleman & Prime Time - Spelling the Alphabet
11. Marvin Gaye - Together We Stand (Divided We Fall)
12. Tim Gane & Sean O'Hagan - La Vie d'Artiste (Generique)
13. Tad Thaddock - Checking In
14. Beatles - It's All Too Much
15. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Making Up and Breaking Up
16. Bruce Springsteen - Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
17. Sun Ra - Of Drastic Measures
18. Platters - With This Ring
19. Jelly Roll Morton - Salty Dog
20. Lewis Taylor - Please Help Me if You Can
21. Charlie Parker - Indiana/Donna Lee (live)
22. Explorers Club - Summer Air
23. Alvin Robinson - Down Home Girl
24. Dion & the Belmonts - A Teenager in Love
25. Frank Zappa - Eat That Question
26. Sun Ra - Under the Spell of Love
27. Sun Ra - Stompy Jones
28. Beatles Remixers Group - All Things Must Pass
29. Beatles - Hold Me Tight
30. Beatles - All My Loving (live Vancouver)
31. Chords - Sh-Boom
32. Stock, Hauden, & Walkman - Index
33. Charlie Parker - Fine and Dandy (live Sweden)
34. Kid Koala - Space Cadet 2
35. Cold Blood - Too Many People
36. John Zorn & the Dreamers - Nekashim
37. Duke Ellington - Louisiana
38. Beatles - One After 909
39. Duke Ellington - The Swingers Get the Blues, Too
40. Duke Ellington - Way Low
41. Duke Ellington - I'm So in Love with You
42. Prince - Good Man
43. Johnnie Lee Willis - Square Dance Boogie
44. Deerhoof - Fresh Born
45. Sun Ra - I'll Get By
46. Sun Ra - Exotic Two
47. Prince - Strange Way
48. Mary Halvorson Quartet - Jesodoth
49. Brand X - Euthanasia Waltz
50. Jeff Byrd - Song No. 1
51. James Brown - Don't Be a Dropout
52. Deerhoof - Itchy P-Pads
53. Duke Ellington - Isfahan
54. Led Zeppelin - Black Mountain Side
55. Patsy Cline - I'll Sail My Ship Alone
56. Anthony Braxton - Comp. 57
57. Captain Beefheart - Fallin' Ditch
58. Sun Ra - Spontaneous Simplicity
59. Stephen Stills - Old Times Good Times
60. Jimi Hendrix - Burning of the Midnight Lamp (BBC)
61. Guided By Voices - Wished I Was a Giant
62. Dan Weiss - Cry Box
63. Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe (live Berkeley)
64. David Bowie - Red Money
65. Duke Ellington - East St. Louis Toodle-O
66. Muddy Waters - Country Boy
67. Remains - Don't Look Back
68. Baby Washington - I'll Never Be Over You
69. Beatles - This Boy (live Paris)
70. Buffalo Springfield - Bluebird
71. Stevie Wonder - Summer Soft
72. Animal Collective - Today's Supernatural
73. Billie Holiday - A Sunbonnet Blue (and a Yellow Straw Hat)
74. Pere Ubu - Chinese Radiation
75. Knight Brothers - Temptation 'Bout to Get Me
76. Parliament - Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight
77. Booker T. & the MGs - Ain't That Peculiar
78. Led Zeppelin - Sick Again (live)
79. Robert Wyatt - Instant Pussy (live)
80. Beatles - Dream Baby (BBC)
81. Robert Wyatt - Rangers in the Night
82. Sun Ra - The Antique Blacks
83. Beatles - I Just Don't Understand (live Stowe School)
84. Blackman -  No Place to Go
85. Henry Cow - Halsteren: Extension 2
86 .Johnny Hodges - The Rabbit's Jump
87. Deerhoof - Tuning a Stray
88. RAIC - Synnecrosis
89. Doris Duke - I Can't Do Without You
90. Sun Ra - Cosmic Machine
91. High Llamas - Bramble Black
92. Eddie Purrell - The Spoiler
93. Leon Ware - I Wanna Be Where You Are
94. Alton Ellis - Wide Awake in a Dream
95. Captain Beefheart - One Rose That I Mean
96. Frank Zappa - The Birth of Captain Beefheart
97. Husker Du - Monday Will Never Be the Same
98. Olu Dara - Your Lips
99. Sun Ra - Immortal Being
100. Sonic Youth - Karen Revisited
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-05-31

Henry Now: nice to hear these old timers crank it... starting another run of live Art Ensemble, this time in 1978 with Lester Bowie... I am surprised at how much I still love Earth Wind and Fire... as long as they stay away from the guitar-based power ballads... 

Playlist 2026-06-01:

*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Bap-Tizum (side 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-08 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (DSS) (side 2)
*Paul Bley: Ramblin'
*Brand X: Moroccan Roll (side 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 3 Compositions of New Jazz (side 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003 "Comp. 328 (12tet)" "Comp. 72H and 74E (Trio)" 
*Anthony Braxton Large Ensemble: 2008-12-03 Wesleyan (CDR) "Comp. 100/134/91"
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (disc 4)
*Tina Brooks: True Blue
*Chicago: Chicago (side 2)
*John Coltrane: Concert in Japan (side 3)
*Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (UltraDisc One-Step) (side 1)
*Richard Dawson: The Ruby Cord
*Deerhoof: Actually, You Can
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S02 E52: Young and Old
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S02 E53: Days of the Week
*Earth Wind & Fire: Gratitude (side 2)
*Earth Wind & Fire: I Am (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: Reflections in Ellington (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: 1938 (side 4)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: 1899-1974 (side 3)
*Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito: Out Beyond Orbit
*Funkadelic: Cosmic Slop
*Funkadelic: Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
*Grateful Dead: Wake Up to Find Out (disc 2, 3) "Dark Star," "Space > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-07-12 Washington DC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-09-20 NYC (CDR) "Space > Dark Star > Playing Reprise > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-10-20 Berlin (CDR) "Dark Star, Space > Dark Star"
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (sides 1, 2)
*Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (disc 1)
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland (side 3)
*Henry Now: Then Again (side 1)
*Charles Ives: Symphonies No. 1 & 4 (Michael Tilson Thomas/Chicago Symphony)
*King Crimson: Islands (40th Anniversary Ed.) (disc 1)
*King Crimson: The Young Persons' Guide to King Crimson (side 4)
*Harry Miller: BBC Sessions, 1976-1977 (CDR)
*Roscoe Mitchell/Tyshawn Sorey: 2013-10-20 North Macedonia (CDR)
*National Health: Of Queues and Cures (sides 1, 2)
*Rova/Nels Cline Singers: The Celestial Septet
*Rufus featuring Chaka Khan: Ask Rufus
*Soft Machine: Six (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Thunder of the Gods (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Crystal Spears (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (sides 3, 4)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 1) "Ceroepic (For Drums and Percussion)"
*Justin Timberlake: Tiny Desk Concert
*Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life (disc 1)
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (side 1)
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (side 4)
*John Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio: Alea Iacta Est

Reading List, Week of 2026-05-31

Reading List 2026-06-01:

*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (started)
*Boyd, Brian. Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery (finished)
*Clowes, Daniel. The Complete Eightball: Issues 1-18 (finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Homer. The Odyssey (transl. Emily Wilson) (reread/in progress)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Wise Man's Fear (reread/in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-05-24

 

Always nice to return to the lethargic majesty of Robert Wyatt's masterpiece.... with the always important underpinning of two great bassists, Richard Sinclair and Hugh Hopper... My original vinyl of Tales from Topographic Oceans sounds so much better than the Steven Wilson remix... that doesn't take away from the fun in hearing different details in the remix, though... I need to check out Vol. 1 of Ayumi Ishito's Roboquarians, because Vol. 2 is fantastic... 

Playlist 2026-05-25:

*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 1)
*Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
*Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians, Vol. 2
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (disc 5)
*Bruford: Gradually Going Tornado (side 1)
*Caravan: In the Land of Grey and Pink (side 1)
*Nels Cline Singers: The Giant Pin
*Nels Cline Singers: Macroscope
*John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (disc 1)
*Richard Dawson: The Ruby Cord
*Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Masterpieces by Ellington (side 3)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Ellington at Newport (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: Dance Date Air Force U.S.A. March 1958 (side 1)
*Emerson Lake and Palmer: Emerson Lake & Palmer
*Entropic Hop: Entropic Hop
*Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (side 3)
*Goal Weight: Keep Telling Yourself That
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-11 Atlanta (CDR) (discs 2, 3)
*Grateful Dead: Formerly the Warlocks (disc 5) "Dark Star," "Space"
*Grateful Dead: 1989-10-16 East Rutherford NJ (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1989-10-26 Miami (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1989-12-31 Oakland CA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Kip Hanrahan: 1991 Stuttgart (CDR)
*Happy the Man: Happy the Man (sides 1, 2)
*Joe Henderson: The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (side 2)
*Hyper Gal: After Image
*Lazro/Léandre/Lovens: For Baritone Sax, Double Bass & Drumset
*Matching Mole: Matching Mole (side 1)
*Merzbow/Mats Gustafsson/Balázs Pándi: Cuts Cut
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 10)
*New Ting: 2026-05-11 "Battering Wham" (wav)
*Nico: 1980-09-26 Squat Theater, NYC (CDR)
*OOIOO: The Horizon Spiral
*Jimmy Reed: Mr. Luck: The Complete Vee-Jay Singles (disc 3)
*Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3+3 (side 2)
*Residents: Eskimo (side 2)
*David Sancious: Forest of Feelings (side 2)
*Michael Sarian: The Sea, the Space, and Egypt, Vol. 1
*Sun Ra and His Inter-Galactic Research Arkestra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Crystal Spears (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 1)
*Test: Ecstatic Peace 
*Various artists: Bollywood Movie Title Music
*Various artists: Telugu Connection (CDR)
*Various artists: WSAM: Dark Star and Behind (CDR compilation)
*Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom (sides 1, 2)
*XTC: Apple Venus, Vol. 1
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (sides 2, 4)
*Yes: Going for the One 

Reading List, Week of 2026-05-24

Reading List 2026-05-25:

*Clowes, Daniel. The Complete Eightball: Issues 1-18 (started)
*Homer. The Odyssey (transl. Emily Wilson) (reread/started)
*Pullman, Philip. Dæmon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling (finished)
*Boyd, Brian. Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Wise Man's Fear (reread/in progress)

 

Playlist, Week of 2026-05-17

 

Some wonderful music coming out of Daniel Carter's label 577 Records... I am particularly intrigued by the playing of Ayumi Ishito... In the land of "Dark Star," I am now firmly in the age of the return of double drums, and so far they just aren't working for me... they're just plodding and jaunty... Nicole Mitchell's Arc of O starts off with an Ascension-level bang... great stuff... 

Playlist 2026-05-18:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-30 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Ayumi Ishito: Ayumi Ishito and the Spacemen, Vol. 2
*Beatles: With the Beatles (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 4 (Ensemble) Compositions 1992 "Comp. 100"
*James Brown: In the Jungle Groove
*Nels Cline Singers: Draw Breath
*Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985 (disc 3)
*Egg: The Metronomical Society
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (disc 10)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 13 (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: 1973-06-10 Washington DC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1979-01-20 Buffalo NY (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1981-12-31 Oakland CA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1984-07-13 Berkeley CA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*King Crimson: In the Wake of Poseidon (40th Anniversary Ed.) (2010 stereo mix)
*Leroy Jenkins: Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival Of America
*Nicole Mitchell & an_ARCHE NewMusic Ensemble: Arc Of O: For Improvisers, Chamber Orchestra & Electronics
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 9)
*New Ting: 2022-06-07 "Undergrowth" (wav)
*Playfield: Playfield, Vol. 2
*Playfield: Stepping Out, Vol. 1
*Wadada Leo Smith/Roscoe Mitchell Creative Orchestra: 1979-06-03 Moers "track 3"
*Tyshawn Sorey: Pillars (disc 3)
*Sun Ra: Crystal Spears (Remastered)
*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York City 1973) (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-28 Detroit (CDR) (disc 6)
*Tool: Undertow
*Lennie Tristano: Lennie Tristano
*Umlaut Big Band: Mary's Ideas (disc 1)
*UYA: 1994-12-13 Captain Cancre-Newt (wav)
*UYA: 1995-01-22 Spreading Love All Over the Wall (wav)
*Various artists: Ethiopiques 25: 1971-1975 Modern Roots
*Various artists: Variations #1: Transition (Jon Leidecker) (CDR)
*White Noise: An Electric Storm
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (side 1)

Reading List, Week of 2026-05-17

Reading List 2026-05-18:

*Pullman, Philip. Dæmon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling (started)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Wise Man's Fear (reread/started)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Name of the Wind (reread/finished)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Splendide-Hôtel (reread/finished)
*Boyd, Brian. Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-05-10

Nice playing from Daniel Barbiero on Moon in Winter... It's been while since I revisited Quartet (New Haven) 2014... it's great hearing Nels Cline and Greg Saunier in the context of Braxton... I'd love a reprise, Mr. Braxton... John Gilmore shines like a golden beacon of sound on Dizzy Reece's From In to Out... Still working my way through the remarkable run of George Lewis replacing Lester Bowie in the Art Ensemble of Chicago at Storyville in 1977... 

Playlist 2026-05-11:

*Rashied Ali Quartet: New Directions in Modern Music (side 1)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-30 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ayumi Ishito: Ayumi Ishito and the Spacemen, Vol. 1
*Béla Bartók: 6 String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet) (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (disc 1)
*Will Bryce/Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery: 2026-05-02 RVA (CDR)
*Daniel Carter: Open Question, Vol. 1
*Andrea Centazzo: Moon in Winter
*Nels Cline: Dirty Baby (disc 2)
*Ornette Coleman: Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (disc 3)
*John Coltrane/Don Cherry: The Avant-Garde
*Deerhoof: Miracle-Level
*Deerhoof: Deerhoof and the Sound Sanctuary
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S02 E54: California
*Duke Ellington: Midnight in Paris
*Duke Ellington and Count Basie: First Time! The Count Meets the Duke
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Latin American Suite
*Entropic Hop: Live at Downtown Music Gallery
*Grateful Dead: 1974-10-18 Winterland, SF (CDR) "Seastones Jam > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: The Closing Of Winterland: December 31, 1978 (disc 4) "Dark Star > The Other One > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1979-01-10 Nassau NY (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Jefferson Pilot: Spirit of '77
*Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra/Small Unit: Spectral Fiction
*Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66: Crystal Illusions
*New Ting: 2026-05-04 "Watering Can Holler"
*Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes
*OOIOO: The Horizon Spiral
*Eddie Prévost et al.: The Secret Handshake With Danger, Vol. 2
*Dizzy Reece: From In to Out
*Santana: Caravanserai
*Santana: Welcome
*Archie Shepp: The Magic of Ju-Ju (side 1)
*Tyshawn Sorey: Alloy "Movement"
*Sparks: Whomp That Sucker (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Jazz by Sun Ra, Vol. 1 [Sun Song]
*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York City 1973) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-28 Detroit (CDR) (disc 5)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Saturn XIII (sides 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra of Two Continents: 1984-10-20 Rubigen, Switzerland (CDR) (disc 2)
*Various artists: Rockabilly (disc 1)
*Alex Ward Item 10: Volition (Live At Cafe Oto) "Volition"

Reading List, Week of 2026-05-10

Reading List 2026-05-11:

*Boyd, Brian. Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery (started)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Name of the Wind (reread/started)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Splendide-Hôtel (reread/started)
*King, Stephen, and Peter Straub. Black House (reread/finished)
*Wilmer, Valerie. As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (rev. ed.) (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-05-03

Still absorbing and getting new insights from Deerhoof's Miracle-Level and Ingrid Laubrock's Serpentines... Prog rocks gotten off: Passion Play and Tarkus... Overall I have preferred the 1974 "Dark Stars" to the 1973 ones... I am almost at the end of the fantastic run of Bill Kreutzmann-only versions... Slowly working my way through the epic Sun Ra Detroit run of December 1980...

Playlist 2026-05-04:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-29 NYC (CDR) (discs 2, 3)
*Béla Bartók: 6 String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet) (disc 1)
*Borderlands Trio: Asteroidea "Borderlands"
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (disc 4)
*Nels Cline: Dirty Baby (disc 1)
*John Coltrane: Transition
*John Coltrane: First Meditations (For Quartet) (sides 1, 2)
*John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
*Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985 (disc 1)
*Deerhoof: Miracle-Level (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (disc 9)
*Duke Ellington: Duke 56/62 Vol. 1 (sides 3, 4)
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection: Vol. 10, Studio Sessions New York & Chicago 1965, 1966, 1971 "Harlem"
*Emerson Lake and Palmer: The Atlantic Years (disc 1) "Tarkus"
*Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito: Out Beyond Orbit
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 12 (1974-06-28 Boston) (disc 3) "Weather Report Suite > Jam> U.S. Blues"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-07-25 Chicago (CDR) (disc 2) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 7 (1974-09-10 London) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-11 Atlanta (CDR) (disc 1)
*Guru Guru: UFO
*Jimi Hendrix: Hendrix in the West
*Charles Ives: Symphonies No. 1 & 4 (Michael Tilson Thomas/Chicago Symphony)
*Jethro Tull: A Passion Play
*Kinks: The Journey: Part 2 (side 1)
*Steve Lacy/Andrea Centazzo: Tao
*Ingrid Laubrock: Serpentines
*Lightning Bolt: The Horizon Viral
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (discs 7, 8)
*Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (disc 2)
*New Ting: 2025-10-20 "Tethered Dream" (wav)
*OOIOO: The Horizon Spiral
*Keith Rowe/John Tilbury: E.E. Tension and Circumstance
*Todd Rundgren: Healing
*Fie Schouten: Open Space
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Supersonic Jazz (21st Century Expanded Ed.) (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Sound of Joy
*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-28 Detroit (CDR) (discs 3, 4)
*Cecil Taylor Big Band: 1995-07-03 NYC (CDR) (disc 1) track 1
*UYA: 1994-12-07 Frosty the Newt
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Ed.) (discs 11, 12)

Reading List, Week of 2026-05-03

Reading List 2026-05-04:

*King, Stephen, and Peter Straub. Black House (reread/started)
*King, Stephen, and Peter Straub. The Talisman (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Munday, Anthony et al. Sir Thomas More (Arden Shakespeare 3rd series, ed. John Jowett) (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-04-26

Tom Rainey rocks out on Downpour... Paul Gonsalves nails it again and again on Featuring Paul Gonsalves... XTC tries too hard on White Music... Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton together: exquisite perfection... Al Foster and Michael Henderson: deep funk on "Mtume"... Craig Taborn: sublime on Bells for the South Side... lots to be thankful for...

Playlist 2026-04-27:

*[Ahmed]: Sama'a [Audition] (side 1)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-28 NYC (CDR) (disc 3)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-29 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Live in Berlin (disc 2)
*Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions (sides 1, 2)
*Daniel Carter: Makeshift Spirituals, Vol. 1
*Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (disc 2)
*Nels Cline: Downpour "Downpour 2"
*John Coltrane: Evenings at the Village Gate (side 2)
*Miles Davis Quintet: Live [1960-04-09 Scheveningen] (side 2)
*Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985 (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: The Complete On the Corner Sessions (disc 5) "Mtume"
*Richard Dawson: The Ruby Cord
*Bill Dixon: Bill Dixon in Italy, Vol. 2 (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (disc 8)
*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
*Duke Ellington/John Coltrane: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Featuring Paul Gonsalves (sides 1, 2)
*Entropic Hop: Live at Downtown Music Gallery "Action Prevails Where Words Will Fail"
*Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito: Out Beyond Orbit
*Grateful Dead: 1972-06-16 Hatford CT (CDR) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-05-14 Missoula MT (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-10 Atlanta (CDR) (disc 3)
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Vol. 34 (1974-06-03 Miami) (disc 3) "Dark Star Jam > Spanish Jam > U.S. Blues"
*Heldon: Third ("It's Always Rock'n'Roll") (disc 2)
*Charles Ives: Symphonies No. 2 & 3/Central Park in the Dark (Leonard Bernstein)
*Joseph Jarman: As If It Were the Seasons (side 2)
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (disc 6)
*Magda Mayas' Filamental: Murmur
*Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66: Equinox
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side (disc 2) "Red Moon in the Sky/Odwalla"
*Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
*New Order: Substance
*Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa "Ornette Coleman´s Harmolodic Sonic Hierographic Forms: A Resonance Change In The Millennium"
*Soft Machine: Seven
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Other Planes of There (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Omniverse (side 1)
*Craig Taborn: Dream Archives
*Cecil Taylor Quartet featuring Anthony Braxton: 2007-06-08 London (CDR)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 2)
*Phil Upchurch Guitar Sound: Feeling Blue
*UYA: 1994-11-17 Keep Saying this (wav)
*UYA: 1994-12-01 Bend, Monster (wav)
*Various artists: Nigeria Soul Fever (disc 1)
*Weather Report: Live and Unreleased (disc 2)
*XTC: White Music
*XTC: Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions (disc 4) 

Reading List, Week of 2026-04-26

Reading List 2026-04-27:

*King, Stephen, and Peter Straub. The Talisman (reread/started)
*Munday, Anthony et al. Sir Thomas More (Arden Shakespeare 3rd series, ed. John Jowett) (started)
*DuBois, Gaylord et al. Brothers of the Spear, Vol. 1 (finished)
*Hummer, T. R. The Infinity Sessions: Poems (finished)
*Nabokov, Vladimir. Pale Fire (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Cecil Taylor on Artistry and Time

...I mean the first time I saw Carmen Amaya dance, in 1955, it was as though everything stopped for me, I mean everything stopped. When you see that. Now that, to me, is the highest kind of compliment that can be paid to another artist, to make somebody else lose all sense of time, all sense of their own existence outside, like the perception of all their energies on that figure. That to me is the greatest. (Cecil Taylor, interview with Bill Smith, 1974-09-07)

This is absolutely what it was like for me every time I saw Cecil Taylor live. (And that Bill Smith interview is one of the best I've read with Mr. Taylor.)

 

Playlist, Week of 2026-04-19

 

I have been on a bit of a Nels Cline kick lately... he's such a versatile guitarist... I am particularly drawn to his skronky, atonal noise playing, like on the live disc of Initiate... good stuff...

Playlist 2026-04-20:

*Amon Duul II: Yeti
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 3) "Number 1"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium E (disc 1) "Act 1, Part 1"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 8)
*Nels Cline: The Inkling
*Nels Cline: Downpour
*Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (disc 1)
*Walt Dickerson Quartet: Impressions of A Patch of Blue
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington and the Small Groups (Vol. 9/10) 1940-1946 (side 2)
*Farmers By Nature: Love and Ghosts (disc 1) "Love and Ghosts"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 11 (1972-09-27 Jersey City, NJ) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-12-18 Tampa FL (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-02-24 Winterland SF (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (disc 5)
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra: Out to Lunch
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet: Hat and Beard
*Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band: Stone Stone Stone
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven "Seven-2"
*Sun Ra and His Solar-Myth Arkestra: The Solar​-​Myth Approach, Vols. 1 & 2 (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit (CDR) (disc 5)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-28 Detroit (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (discs 1, 3)
*UYA: 1994 (CDR compilation)
*UYA: 1994-11-01 Image of a Stale Jazz (wav)
*UYA: 1994-11-08 Newt-Dole Hole Merger (wav)
*Various artists: WSAM: Short Cuts I (cassette compilation) (side B)
*Weather Report: Live and Unreleased (disc 1)
*XTC: Drums and Wires (sides 1, 2) 

Reading List, Week of 2026-04-19

Reading List 2026-04-20:

*DuBois, Gaylord et al. Brothers of the Spear, Vol. 1 (started)
*Nabokov, Vladimir. Pale Fire (reread/started)
*Creepy Archives, Vol. 1 (ed. Shawna Gore) (finished)
*Green, Daniel. Gilbert Sorrentino: An Introduction (finished)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: "There Is a Heppy Lend--Fur, Fur Awa-a-ay": 1925-1926 (finished)
*King Edward III (Arden Shakespeare 3rd series, ed. Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett) (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Hummer, T. R. The Infinity Sessions: Poems (in progress)
 

Record Collections and Time

...I realized something about record collections. I've long understood that what they represent, in aggregate, is time, and if you look at their spines you're looking at a visual marker of potential time, roughly five LPs per inch, at forty minutes per, so each linear foot equals nearly twenty-four hundred minutes or forty hours of continuous listening duration. When a  collector is young, what their collection represents to them is boundless possibility, the optimism of time unspent; as the years press on, the collection comes to suggest something different, the inevitability of the unfulfilled, potential time that will never be realized. I will not listen to the bulk of my records again. I console myself: there they are if I need them. (John Corbett, Microgroove: Forays into Other Music, 2015, p. 428)

I'm working on it... 

 

Playlist, Week of 2026-04-12

 

A solid listening week... I just can't... anything to avoid thinking about the news... 

Playlist 2026-04-13:

*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 4) "Number 2 - Quartet Version Take 7"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-28 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium E (disc 3) "Act 3, Part 2"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 7)
*Clifford Brown/Max Roach: Clifford Brown and Max Roach
*Nels Cline: Destroy All Nels Cline
*Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (disc 2)
*Nels Cline Singers: Macroscope
*John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet: Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings (disc 1)
*John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition I/take 2) (side 1)
*John Coltrane: Transition
*Creative Construction Company: Creative Construction Company "Muhal (Part II) > Live Spiral"
*Richard Dawson: The Ruby Cord 
*Walt Dickerson Quartet: Impressions of A Patch of Blue
*Duke Ellington: Volume III (1937-03-18 Cotton Club, NYC) (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (disc 7)
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra [1941 Hollywood] (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Intimate Ellington
*Famous Actors from Out of Town: FA3574
*Farmers By Nature: Love and Ghosts (disc 1) "Seven Years In"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 14 (1973-11-30 Boston) (disc 2) "Dark Star Jam"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-12-06 Cleveland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-10 Atlanta (CDR) (disc 2)
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (side 3)
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: 1967-03-18 Hamburg (CDR)
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland (Deluxe Ed.) (disc 2)
*Impressions: Definitive Impressions
*Impressions: ABC Rarities
*Jefferson Pilot: Spirit of '77
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (discs 3, 4)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Discussions (side 4)
*Ikue Mori: Hex Kitchen
*New Ting: 2026-04-06 Gnostic Time (wav)
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet: Tails Out
*Rova/Nels Cline Singers: The Celestial Septet
*Alan Silva/Sound Visions Orchestra: Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra
*Wadada Leo Smith/Roscoe Mitchell Creative Orchestra: 1979-06-03 Moers "track 1"
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Supersonic Jazz (21st Century Expanded Ed.) (side 3)
*Sun Ra: Monorails & Satellites: Works for Solo Piano Vols. 1, 2, 3 (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Uncharted Passages (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit (CDR) (disc 4)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (discs 1, 2)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 2) "Unoepic (For Guitar)"
*UYA: 1994-10-20 Horizon Bunny (wav)
*Various artists: WSAM: Short Cuts I (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Weather Report: 1977-11-09 Norfolk (cassette) (sides A, B)
*Ben Webster: King of the Tenors
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 10)

Reading List, Week of 2026-04-12

Reading List 2026-04-13:

*Creepy Archives, Vol. 1 (ed. Shawna Gore) (started)
*Green, Daniel. Gilbert Sorrentino: An Introduction (started)
*Hummer, T. R. The Infinity Sessions: Poems (started)
*King Edward III (Arden Shakespeare 3rd series, ed. Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett) (reread/started)
*Ferrante, Elena. The Story of the Lost Child (transl. Ann Goldstein) (started/finished)
*Ferrante, Elena. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (transl. Ann Goldstein) (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arden 3rd series, ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri) (reread/finished)
*Yoakum, Jim. The (Non-Inflatable) Monty Python TV Companion (finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: "There Is a Heppy Lend--Fur, Fur Awa-a-ay": 1925-1926 (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-04-05

 

For some reason last night I was in the mood for some piano... I started off with a bit of Geneviève Foccroulle playing the solo piano work of Anthony Braxton, in this case "Composition 31," an early piece that's abstract and opaque and quite beautiful... Then I moved on to Cecil Taylor's first album, Jazz Advance... he lays it out right from the get-go with his Cubist reworking of Monk's "Bemsha Swing"... this whole album sounds fresh and invigorating, pretty amazing for the 21st century... imagine how radical it must have sounded in 1956!... Finally, I ended with Duke Ellington and Money Jungle... I've always felt kind of lukewarm about this album, but it's growing on me, and last night it blew me away... Duke's playing is nothing less than sublime, soaked in the blues but also forward-thinking and exploratory... so, all in all, a wonderful evening of creative piano music... 

Playlist 2026-04-06:

*George Adams/Don Pullen: Don't Lose Control (side 1)
*AMM: The Crypt - 12th June 1968 (disc 1)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-27 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Kevin Ayers and the Whole World: Shooting at the Moon (side 2)
*Anthony Braxton Quartet: 1976-10-28 Graz, Austria (CDR) "Four Winds"
*Anthony Braxton: 4 (Ensemble) Compositions 1992 "Comp. 163"
*Anthony Braxton: Piano Music (1968-2000)/Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle (disc 3)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 6)
*Dave Burrell: High Won - High Two (side 4)
*Nels Cline: Downpour
*Nels Cline Singers: The Giant Pin
*Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (disc 1)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (track 1)
*John Coltrane: 1965-04-02 Half Note, NYC (CDR) "Creation"
*Deerhoof: Noble and Godlike in Ruin
*Bob Dylan: Fallen Angels
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S02 E51: "Hello"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Such Sweet Thunder (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: 1899-1974 (side 3)
*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
*Duke Ellington: The Reprise Studio Recordings (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Latin American Suite
*Grateful Dead: 1973-10-25 Madison WI (CDR)  "Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Listen to the River: St. Louis '71 '72 '73 (disc 20) "Dark Star" (1973-10-30)
*Grateful Dead: 1973-11-11 Winterland (CDR)  "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-11-21 Denver CO (CDR)  "Dark Star Jam"
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-10 Atlanta (CDR) (disc 1)
*Impressions: Check Out Your Mind!
*Impressions: Times Have Changed
*Ingrid Laubrock: Serpentines
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Stir Crazy (CDR compilation) (disc 12)
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (disc 2)
*Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
*Roscoe Mitchell: Discussions (sides 1, 2, 3)
*Rascals: 1968-08-16 Hollywood Bowl (CDR)
*Max Roach: The Long March (side 1)
*Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
*Ches Smith: Clone Row
*Sparks: Sparks (side 1)
*Sparks: Balls (side 4)
*Sun Ra and His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: Sun Embassy
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 4)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra (side 4)
*Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance
*UYA: 1994-10-16 Elbow Movement (wav)
*Various artists: Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues (A Musical Journey) (disc 4)
*Various artists: Body and Soul (CDR compilation)
*Weather Report: Live in Tokyo (side 4)
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 9)

Reading List, Week of 2026-04-05

Reading List 2026-04-06:

*Ferrante, Elena. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (transl. Ann Goldstein) (started)
*Yoakum, Jim. The (Non-Inflatable) Monty Python TV Companion (started)
*Vaughan, Brian K., et al. Y: The Last Man (Deluxe ed., Book 4) (reread/started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., et al. Y: The Last Man (Deluxe ed., Book 5) (reread/started/finished)
*Ferrante, Elena. The Story of a New Name (transl. Ann Goldstein) (finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., et al. Y: The Last Man (Deluxe ed., Book 3) (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: "There Is a Heppy Lend--Fur, Fur Awa-a-ay": 1925-1926 (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arden 3rd series, ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri) (reread/in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-03-29

 

For me, Curtis Mayfield's solo work, as interesting as it is, can't hold a candle to the music he produced with the Impressions... the writing is better (he never equaled songs as powerful as "They Don't Know," "We're a Winner," or "I'm Loving Nothing," with the possible exception of "Move On Up" from Curtis), the blend of voices is more interesting, Mayfield's guitar work is stronger and subtler, plus there's the orchestrations of Johnny Pate, adding texture, acting almost as a fourth voice... I've been enjoying working my way through a lot of live Art Ensemble of Chicago sets... very open-ended, with melodies as signposts along the way, or springboards for nuanced improvisations... 

Playlist 2026-03-30:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1977-07-26 NYC (CDR)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1987-03-06 Cambridge MA (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton: Creative Music Orchestra "Comp. 25" (selections)
*Anthony Braxton: Sextet (Istanbul) 1996 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 5)
*Daniel Carter: Makeshift Spirituals, Vol. 1
*Nels Cline: Dirty Baby (disc 2)
*Nels Cline Singers: Draw Breath
*Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come (side 1)
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 6) "Directions"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Masterpieces by Ellington (side 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1964
*Duke Ellington: Yale Concert
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 5: The Suites
*Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (50th Anniversary) (sides 1, 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1972-05-18 Munich (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-03-16 Long Island, NY (CDR) (disc 3)
*Grateful Dead: 1973-09-11 Williamsburg VA (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 19 (1973-10-19 Oklahoma City OK) "Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam"
*Craig Harris: Black Bone (side 1)
*Heldon: Electronique Guerilla
*Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D.
*Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony (disc 7)
*Impressions: This Is My Country
*Impressions: The Young Mods' Forgotten Story 
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (disc 1)
*Magda Mayas' Filamental: Murmur
*Maurice McIntyre: Humility in the Light of the Creator (side 1)
*Thelonious Monk: The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection (disc 2)
*New Ting: 2026-03-23 "Red Fire Extinguishers on Parade" (wav)
*Sonny Rollins Quintet: Rollins Plays for Bird (side 1)
*Fie Schouten: Open Space
*Sparks: Balls (sides 1, 2, 3)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 3)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: My Brother the Wind Vol. 1
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit (CDR) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra Arkestra under the Direction of Marshall Allen: Lights on a Satellite (side 1)
*Gebhard Ullmann/Basement Research: Impromptus and Other Short Works
*UYA: 1994-10-15 Loud Connection (wav)
*Various artists: Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues (A Musical Journey) (disc 3)